“That’s the exception, not the rule,” is a tragic piece of advice.
As any leader knows, “be the exception, not the rule,” is how leaders are born in the first place.
OBLIVIOUS When tears silently fell from Elizabeth’s cheek upon finding the note from her lover, 3 days before their daughter was born that read: “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” ASHAMED When classmates asked where my daddy was. I lied & told them he was Crocodile Dundee, and had to be in Australia to tame […]
“WINNER, WINNER! OFFER ACCEPTED!!!” That’s what the subject line read as I cozied up with a glass of red wine, last night, nervously awaiting the news. And when the email came through? I almost choked. “Omg, I have tears in my eyes!” I wrote in response. (Along with a shit ton of other capital letters […]
Being in business for yourself requires three things. A sense of discipline. A sense of self. And a motherfucking tube of lipstick. When you run a business, NOTHING about your workday looks like anybody else’s, and soon it follows that nothing about your life looks very much like anybody else’s, either. Late nights. Unusual schedules. Working more than […]
Real talk: I think you’re a liar. A very, very convenient liar. I can call you that because we’re all in the same club. Because the thing is, when you’re out there doing creative work, and new work, and work that has no manager, no support team, no pat on the back, there are days when […]
They say you should trust your gut, but I never really liked that saying. You want me to entrust this REALLY BIG DECISION on a bunch of leftover pizza and four Werther’s Originals? I prefer to say, “trust your inner anarchy,” mostly because at least that makes me feel like a little bit of an […]
It’s easy to defer to the experts to tell you what to do. There are parts of us that are always seeking that validation, that security, that assurance that what we are doing is “right.” It’s why you hire the business coach, follow the advice of the lawyer, and let the person with the title […]
There’s never been a person who went to school for accounting and said: BUT WAIT, I CAN’T BECOME AN ACCOUNTANT BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE ALREADY DOINGGGGG THATTTTTTTTTTT. There are plenty of people out there doing exactly what you want to do—times eleventy thousand. “But there are already so many writers / designers / candlestick makers” […]
They might not have said it. In fact, they probably kept it to themselves—“don’t want to seem like a creepy ass stalker.” But no matter who you are, you have changed things for someone. You have made them rethink their career. Rethink their stance. Rethink their makeup. (Because, hey, Urban Decay is a religion.) You […]
Straight up: every single asshole fear you’ve got going on in your head comes from not knowing. It stands to reason, then, that the best way to get over the fear? Is to study. Study email marketing, if you’re overwhelmed by it. Study writing, if you’re intimidated. Study sales, if you don’t know how to […]
I received this email last week (published with permission): Ash, Thank you. No, seriously, thank you. I can truthfully say that post was one of the best posts I’ve read in the sphere. I lost my mom when I was eight; I actually wrote/performed a one man show about it (It’s a comedy, trust me) […]
All the things you think you need this year, you don’t. You do not need more determination. You do not need more discipline. And you certainly do not need more diligence. Are you kidding me? You are a Westerner–you’ve got plenty of that. Why else have you gotten up every single day and begrudgingly gone […]
Sometimes, the shit hits the fan. Sometimes, you find yourself living out of your car, storing all of your toiletries in an oversize red purse, lodging sweatshirts in between head rests and sunroof panels to block the windows so you can sleep, explaining to unsympathetic credit card companies that you can’t pay your $41 minimum […]
Hey, I’m Ash! Twenty years ago I was a small town girl growing up in a trailer park in rural Pennsylvania. Fifteen years ago, I lost my family and everything I knew right as I became the first to graduate college. Fourteen years ago, I found myself leaving everything behind for a new life in the city where I could be “normal.” Ten years ago I realized normal was the most disappointing thing that ever happened to me. Nine years ago I quit my job in advertising and pursued my dreams as a creative writer. Eight years ago, I built a 6-figure business doing what I love using nothing more than the Internet and my voice. And now, today, I’m the founder of The Middle Finger Project, an irreverent media co. that helps other women find their voice and teaches them to use it to build whatever the f*ck they want to. With a book coming out with Penguin Random House in February 2020 (YASSS, WE’RE A PRODUCT IN TARGET!) I’m proud to be a bad influence on women and guide them into doing something disobediently brave with their life and their career.
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